Tag Archives: Silvereye

Small birds of the far eastern forests.

Posted on February 7, 2017 | Leave a comment

Mallacoota is surrounded by the Croajingolong National Park wilderness. The dry forests and pockets of rainforest have many species of small birds. It is often a challenge to find them in the heat and humidity of summer but walking quietly in the morning can be rewarding. I am often surprised by their vibrant colours but when facing in a certain direction they can be invisible and difficult to see.

Eastern yellow Robin, Shipwreck Creek, Mallacoota, Vic, 18 Dec 2016

Eastern yellow Robin, Shipwreck Creek

Female Leaden Flycatcher, Shipwreck Creek, Mallacoota, Vic, 18 Dec 2016

Female Leaden Flycatcher, Double Creek

Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Shipwreck Creek, Mallacoota, Vic, 18 Dec 2016

Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Shipwreck Creek trail

Golden Whistler, Shipwreck Creek, Mallacoota, Vic, 18 Dec 2016

Golden Whistler, Mallacoota

Scarlet Honeyeater, Bastian Point, Mallacoota, Vic, 18 Dec 2016

Scarlet Honeyeater, Mallacoota

Lewins Honeyeater, Mallacoota, Vic, 21 Dec 2016

Lewins Honeyeater, Mallacoota

Silvereyes, Mallacoota, Vic, 19 Dec 2016

Silvereyes, Mallacoota

Basian Thrush, Mallacoota, Vic, 19 Dec 2016

Basian Thrush, Mallacoota

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A Spring walk to the beach.

Posted on November 8, 2016 | Leave a comment

Nothing like a walk on a lovely spring’s day after so much bad weather. I am pretty lucky that I can walk out my back gate down the local creek and to the Elwood beach. Along the way I can find all sorts of interesting things to photograph. On this occasion I found a juvenile Little Raven waiting patiently to be fed, a Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike hunting for food in a large Plain Tree and a beautiful Silvereye at Point Ormond. I am so focussed on the birds that I often forget to take a few landscapes for the context…I promise I will next time…

Silvereye, Point Ormond, Elwood, Victoria, 1 Nov 2016

Silvereye, Point Ormond, Elwood

Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Elster Creek, Elwood, Victoria, 1 Nov 2016

Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Elster Creek, Elwood

Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Elster Creek, Elwood, Victoria, 1 Nov 2016

II

Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Elster Creek, Elwood, Victoria, 1 Nov 2016

III

Little Raven, Elster Creek, Elwood, Victoria, 1 Nov 2016

A young Little Raven waiting for a feed.

 

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Birds of the Bellarine

Posted on April 19, 2015 | 2 comments

The second day of my Easter trip exploring the Bellarine Peninsula took me to several coastal parks and bushland reserves and while the number of birds were not large the photo opportunities to get closer to the regulars was quite good.

Black Wallaby, Ocean Grove Nature Reserve, Victoria 4 April 2015

Black Wallaby, Ocean Grove Nature Reserve, Victoria 4 April 2015 – feeding on new grass growth after a bush fire in the area.

Red Browed Finch, Ocean Grove Nature Reserve, Victoria 4 April 2015

The Lookout – Red Browed Finch, Ocean Grove Nature Reserve, Victoria 4 April 2015

Silvereye, Lake Connewarre, Victoria 4 April 2015

Silvereye, Lake Connewarre, Victoria 4 April 2015

Silvereye, Lake Connewarre, Victoria 4 April 2015

A careful selection

Silvereye, Lake Connewarre, Victoria 4 April 2015

III

Silvereye, Lake Connewarre, Victoria 4 April 2015

IV

Superb Fairy Wren, Lake Connewarre, Victoria 4 April 2015

I just want to sing ! – Superb Fairy Wren, Lake Connewarre, Victoria 4 April 2015

Welcome Swallow, Edwards Point Wildlife Reserve, St Leonards Victoria 4 April 2015

Welcome Swallow, Edwards Point Wildlife Reserve, St Leonards Victoria 4 April 2015

A squadron of Pelicans flew over me as I walked along the Point – there were 6 large birds flying in perfect formation gliding along the coast.

Australian Pelican, Edwards Point Wildlife Reserve, St Leonards Victoria 4 April 2015

Australian Pelican, Edwards Point Wildlife Reserve, St Leonards Victoria 4 April 2015

Australian Pelican, Edwards Point Wildlife Reserve, St Leonards Victoria 4 April 2015

II

Red Browed Finch, Edwards Point Wildlife Reserve, St Leonards Victoria 4 April 2015

Red Browed Finch, Edwards Point Wildlife Reserve, St Leonards Victoria 4 April 2015

Opposite my accommodation in Queescliff was a park overlooking the beach and the heads at the entrance to Port Phillip Bay. In the park are some large mature trees planted by the early settlers of the area. The trees are stunning and beautifully shaped by pruning and the wind. The one below reminded me of a giant bonsai. I spent some time one evening in nice late afternoon light walking around it and using my wide angle lens trying to capture the feeling. I failed miserably – I never thought that taking a photos of trees would be so much harder than birds.

Conifer, Queenscliff, Victoria 4 April 2015

Conifer, Queenscliff, Victoria 4 April 2015

Pine, Queenscliff, Victoria 4 April 2015

Pine, Queenscliff, Victoria 4 April 2015

While I was staying at Queenscliff there was a full eclipse of the moon that lasted for several hours and finished with a rare blood moon. While I did not stay up for the full blood moon (too cold and I had an early start the next day), I did get a few early eclipse shots trying out various settings. I got very few clear shots due to clouds  but was happy enough with the one below.

Lunar Eclipse, Queenscliff, Victoria 4 April 2015

Lunar Eclipse, Queenscliff, Victoria 4 April 2015

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Posted in Animal, Birds, Victoria

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Hungry, Shy and Alluring – the Ladies of Tarra Valley

Posted on March 14, 2015 | Leave a comment

During my recent trip to the Tarra Bulga National Park and the Tarra Valley, the weather was overcast and drizzly making the forests quite dark and difficult to photograph birds.

After a few days the sun did come out and I found a few interesting scenes of feeding, preening and secret bathing spots.

Immature Grey Shrike Thrush

Immature Grey Shrike Thrush waiting for a parent to bring a snack

Adult Grey Shrike Thrush

Adult Grey Shrike Thrush with a moth

Grey Shrike Thrushe

Grey Shrike Thrush feeding time

Silvereye

Silvereye

Silvereye

Silvereye preening

Silvereye

Silvereye keeping an eye on the voyeur with the camera

Eastern Spinebill

Eastern Spinebill – there were many large Fuschias around the campground and along the river (escaped plants) most likely established by previous owners of the campgrounds. The Spinebill loves this bush for the nectar in the flowers.

I had walked downstream from the campgrounds one evening and was looking at a small pond waiting for a platypus to appear when I remembered the old birding adage “always look behind you“. I did glance back up the creek and saw a large brown bird hopping into a rock pool and splashing about. It was a Lyrebird taking its evening dip.

Lyrebird

Lyrebird

Lyrebird

Lyrebird II

Lyrebird

Lyrebird bathing – small wings and a long tail make for very short flight – more of a ground dweller and branch jumper.

A dog barked nearby and the bird jumped back into the bushes so I took the opportunity to re-position and observe a bit longer. The Lyrebird made a few calls and came down a few minutes later and hopped right back in…

Lyrebird

Lyrebird – big claws for digging the rainforest floor for meals of insects, spiders and earthworms.

Lyrebird

Just right……

Lyrebird

Lyrebird splashdown  – photos following this one were a blur of feathers and water…quite funny to watch – she spent a fair bit of time working on the tail as well.

Lyrebird bath

Secret Lyrebird bath – after she left I had a look at the bath and it is a natural bathing spot – perfect for future stake-outs.

Lyrebird in Nest

My Blue Thunder co-owner and I found a different Lyrebird building a nest in the National Park – the nest was about 2 metres off the ground on the side of a large Mountain Ash tree. She placed sticks carefully and collected large mouthfuls of mouldy leaf litter to place on the bottom of the nest. She ignored us watching and taking photos from only a few metres away.

Lyrebird Nes

Lyrebird Nest on the side of the Ash. Invisible unless you saw her jump up into it.

Tarra River

Tarra River next to the campgrounds

Moss and Lichen

Moss and Lichen with a nice coloured bokeh background.

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Birds of Cloudehill, Olinda

Posted on February 9, 2015 | 4 comments

Within the Dandenong Ranges, about an hour east of Melbourne, is a stunning garden called Cloudehill. It is one of the three display garden nurseries of the Diggers Club. The other two gardens are the Garden of St Erth in Blackwood and Heronswood in Dromana. I think Cloudehill is one of the most beautiful gardens I have been to and as an added bonus it is usually full of birds.  While Mrs Gap Year wanders around and then hits the nursery shop or the cafe to read the paper I can go deeper into the gullies at the bottom of the gardens and look for birds. On this occasion I went to find the resident lyrebirds but for the first time I did not hear or see them. I did find a rather large and noisy flock of Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos – shooting into the canopy was difficult but with Lightroom the images could be salvaged.

Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo

Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo

Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo II - several were chewing on the bark of this tree.

Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo II – several were chewing on the bark of this tree.

Silvereye

Silvereye

Juvenile Silvereye

Juvenile Silvereye

Juvenile Spinebill

Juvenile Spinebill

Juvenile Spinebill II

Juvenile Spinebill II

Juvenile Spinebill III

Juvenile Spinebill III

Juvenile Spinebill IV

Juvenile Spinebill IV

Part 2  – The Wonderful Gardens of Cloudehill

Coming Soon:

Part 3 – Colours of Cloudehill

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